Happy weekend all! This is the weekend of the bear. Hibernation in winter, such a concept. I thought that since we are not gallivanting everywhere this weekend, I would try and bake something from my stash of recipes. I also currently have 4 ripe bananas in my freezer and a slight addiction to coffee. This recipe is a match made in heaven. Although when going to find toffee bits and banana chips, I became worried about the kind of texture that it would bring. I realize that this is a tried and tested recipe, but Nick is always complaining when things have unexpected crunch, and I can’t say I really blame him. So I adjusted the recipe to include chocolate (revolutionary I know), but it still has coffee and since it enhances chocolate flavor, I think it’s a win.

This would be a place where a picture would go. Why is there no picture of this delicious banana bread? Well it is because there is none. It was eaten before any picture could be taken. So… that should say enough as to how this banana bread went over in my household.

Nick also has a little secret, that he isn’t too embarrassed to share. When we get groceries we usually buy bananas for the week. We try our best to make sure they are all consumed before they get too ripe. Now I religiously will eat a banana every day if they are not too ripe and are present, however Nick is willing to skip a day or too every week with hopes that there may be a few bananas that get too ripe before I can eat them for breakfast. Late last year I was wondering why I was making so much banana bread. I was making so many different kinds of banana bread, chocolate banana bread, cinnamon snicker doodle banana bread, and muffins. And then about 3 weeks in, it dawned on me that we had too many bananas and not enough people in this house hold eating them the way they were meant to be eaten. There was only one guilty face with chocolate chips smeared over it, and he doesn’t regret it one bit.

I also chose to whisk all the ingredients because sometimes when the dishwasher is on and in the middle of the kitchen, I don’t even want to think about cleaning bowl and attachments of my stand mixer. I love it with my whole heart, but when I’m drowning in dirty dishes the last thing I really want to do is dirty the stand mixer.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and freshly grated nutmeg (ground nutmeg would work as well, just use 1 tsp). Set aside.

In a larger bowl, whisk together butter and sugar until fluffy. Whisk in eggs one at a time, and make sure they are fully incorporated each time. Whisk in banana/coffee mixture as well as vanilla until combined.

Pour mixture into your pan and add mini chocolate chips to the top. Tap on counter once or twice to get any serious bubbles out, and bake in over for 60 mins or until a cake tester (or toothpick) come out clean from the middle. At the 60 min mark I covered it with tin foil to help stop the browning on top.

Let stand in pan for 10 mins, and then take out of pan and let cool completely. You can serve warm, cool, or toasted 🙂